Aetna Inc. is a U.S. health insurance company founded in 1853 in Hartford, Connecticut.[1] Aetna covers over 18 million people with its health plans, 13 million with dental plans, and 8 million with pharmacy plans.[2] It offers traditional health insurance as well as HMOs, PPOs, point-of-service (POS), and health savings accounts. It also has vision, behavioral health, and Medicare related plans. Aetna's top competitors are Blue Cross, CIGNA, and UnitedHealth Group.

This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." Please visit our main SourceWatch page on Fix the Debt.

About Fix the Debt

The Campaign to Fix the Debt is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem." Through a special report and new interactive wiki resource, the Center for Media and Democracy -- in partnership with the Nation magazine -- exposes the funding, the leaders, the partner groups, and the phony state "chapters" of this astroturf supergroup. Learn more at PetersonPyramid.org and in the Nation magazine.

Institute for Clinical and Economic Review

Aetna is a significant funding source [1] for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)[[2]] a non-profit which has been criticized for providing insurers public support in their decisions to exclude prescription drugs from coverage. Steve Pearson, ICER's president and founder, was previously a senior fellow at America's Health Insurance Plans[[3]], the health insurance industry's lobbying arm in Washington, of which Aetna is a member.[4]